The use of a hand held cautery scalpel has become the preferred instrument for surgical dissection in many hospitals. Surgical elevation of flaps or dissection of tissue planes was in the past performed with either blunt dissection or with a traditional scalpel. A hand held suction cautery device or a hand held cautery scalpel with separate suction is often used interchangeably with a steel scalpel.
The cautery method hastens the operative procedure and reduces blood loss substantially. This is especially important for surgery on ill children or infants for whom even small blood losses are poorly tolerated. Limited bleeding is also advantageous when contamination from HIV infected blood is of concern.
The current design of commercially available suction cautery devices are not ideal for tissue dissection. With a typical hand held cautery device, the tubular design of the blade causes adherence of tissue to its tip causing excessive char and is difficult to clean. Further, the location of the momentary push button switch is awkward and not ergonomically placed to facilitate alternate control of suction and cauterization.
With scalpel cautery devices, suction of smoke is required, necessitating a second assistant for smoke evacuation.
The present invention combines the cutting blade of a hand held cautery scalpel and a suction channel disposed adjacent to the blade. The blade is retractable into a sheath that allows user control of the amount of exposure as well as automatic cleaning of char and tissue coagulum. The unique retractability of the blade allows rapid alternation between cutting and direct suctioning of blood and coagulation. The proximity of the suction tip to the blade permits instantaneous evacuation of the smoke plume generated by the cautery. Thus, the present invention refines the use of the cautery dissector and hastens the surgical procedure with reduction in blood loss.